Do you think the suburbs lack in some of those aspects or do you just not consider them true SD?

I'm generally ok with suburbs if they fit the bill, most just don't tend to because they divide the land into residential, shopping and office with such stark contrast that you tend to need your car to get between them. Can't bike to work, can't walk to the store, etc. In my experience, the older the neighborhood the more likely it is to blend land uses because it was zoned before our over-dependence on cars.